COUNCIL house repair workers were on strike today (Friday, October 17) in protest against job losses.

Interserve staff, who repair and maintain the city's 20,000 Liverpool council houses, walked out over 45 redundancies.

Around 120 Transport and General Workers members voted to strike last week and it is thought the majority of their 424 colleagues will today refuse to cross picket lines at the company's depot in Long Lane, Aintree.

Managers were putting on buses for any workers who want to cross the picket lines and work.

Industrial relations between Interserve workers and management have also hit new lows amid accusations of intimidation during last week's strike ballot.

The T&G has accused managers of bullying after workers received notes on their pay slips asking them to reject a strike ballot.

The notes on the bottom of pay slips read "use your voice vote no" and "apathy may result in strike".

T&G national spokesman Andrew Dodgson today said: "This is the last throw of a desperate employer. These notes are examples of the way the company has attempted to intimidate, influence and bully its way through the ballot process.

"The vote to strike is an eloquent way of showing the management how they feel about this."

Senior Interseve manager Dean Bennett said notes on payslips were a good way to communicate with staff.

He said: "I do not have any objections with these notes. They were an expression against apathy. For the last two months people driving into our Long Lane depot have seen banners and poster saying vote yes.

"There are 129 members of T&G union and there were only 88 returns in the ballot."

The strike will lead to the cancellation of hundreds of home repairs across the city and add to a growing backlog.